Category: Small Business Retail

Have you been asking yourself how do I increase traffic to my retail business? Or how do I increase traffic to my business so I can increase sales and keep the doors open?

The question comes up frequently and it doesn’t usually come from the owner who is seeing double digit increases in sales. It’s usually coming from the small business owner who is laying awake at 2am asking herself, “how do I increase traffic to my retail business and keep it affordable?”

I recently ran into a business owner who obviously needed help but was not going to let anyone from the outside step into his world.

It always amazes me when I run into a small business owner who has been at it for years, and they say the want to increase traffic to their retail business, yet they can’t market themselves out of their own backyard let alone front yard! Yet he or she continues on down the path of struggling and fighting to keep the doors open.

In this particular case the owners were all over the map and spending money that wasn’t necessary and real a drain on their finances.

Increase Traffic to Your Retail Business

So if you are you looking to increase traffic to your retail business then the #1 Thing you must do is look at all the marketing angles. If this is a challenge, then hire a professional to help you look at all the angles. This way you can identify the ones that really work, and those that need to be left behind or fine tuned to help increase traffic.

In today’s web environment you have to look at the entire picture. Maybe you have a large customer database but are not engaging people with mobile or email? Why? Is it frustration? Confusion? Or simply a lack of knowledge and the ability to connect the dots and make the technology work in your favor.

Increase Retail Traffic with Web-Oriented Tools

If you are like so many retailers these days, the web is one big headache. Constant changes. Constant issues. Constant needs for updates, etc… And on and on the list goes.

The thing is, web-oriented tools can help to increase your retail traffic if you are using and testing with the right tools.

Tools like the QR code, URL Shortners and Short Videos can help you Track, Generate and Increase Traffic to Your Retail Business.

People are also using mobile more and more, so if your business is not mobilized (on and for the web), chances are you’re just hurting yourself and the bottom line of your business. So get busy and get mobile pronto!

Ultimately you need to attract and engage with people (your target audience for your retail business) on the web when they search and research by typing or speaking the keywords for your type of retail business. This will then lead to more traffic to your web properties, phones, emails and physical locations.

Is your business becoming extinct and you don’t even realize it? Or is all your hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and money about to go up in smoke or down the drain and you feel helpless to do anything about it?

Let me share a short story about a small family business that struggled, fell, tripped and succeeded….

9.11.2001 6am

It was on this day that I was supposed to fly to Wisconsin to meet with our biggest vendor, hoping they would approve of the new buyer who was soon to purchase our small family business.

The call came from my sister-in-law around 6am Pacific Time. It came as quite a shock so my wife and I quickly dressed and drove to my Mother’s home to view the unfolding tragedy in New York, the place of my birth and early years.

We quickly realized that I would not be flying that day and that our business sale may be put on the back burner. But we continued to watch and then waited to see if more disaster was to come.

In the weeks after Nine Eleven, we worked to salvage the sale and the buyer did purchase our company, although without the #1 vendor on board.

This vendor, who we had promoted and marketed for 12 years, was at that time the biggest in the industry. We had aligned ourselves with them so we could grow our small enterprise and this decision turned out to be one that we would not regret. Although it did cause some serious aggravation with our buyer.

Ultimately the executives at our #1 vendor held our fate in their hands and decided that the buyer of our business would not be permitted to sell and promote their products.

How ironic it was that we as small business people had to get their blessing and the people approving this deal were not even involved in a small business. They were corporate folk, doing their jobs, looking for increased sales and covering their bottom line.

To my knowledge, not one of the original executives are still working for this vendor and the business we sold….

Well, that’s another story that I will continue with in Part II. So stay tuned, avoid online extinction today and look for my next article where I’ll share what happened after the sale…

Dave Krygier Publisher

PS – Want to learn more about the Tiny Store and how this small family business dominated niches? Get the inside scoop and check out Secrets of the Tiny Store and you’ll find out.

Years ago before the dotcom boom there was a small niche business located in the backyard of ‘The Big M’ in Redmond, Washington. What started out as a brick mortar model with one full time employee, one phone line and one product, bloomed into a thriving diverse enterprise. This small business had its ups and downs just like all businesses that get started on a shoestring. Eventually things started to gel and opportunities opened up that the local competition didn’t see or care to see. When most startups are starting to falter and fade, this one started to pickup steam and capture new customers.

Over the years this little brick and mortar business grew and grew along with the surrounding community until the arrival of the web in August of 1995. Thus they entered the world of click and mortar and started on a new journey that would increase sales and over all revenues. The Internet brought on a totally new dimension that enabled the little enterprise to expand its horizons and reach out to the far corners of the globe. With clients from all over the world, calls and emails would make their way from far away places like Australia, The Netherlands, and even a research outpost in Antarctica.

And so business continued on until the fall of 2001 when it finally changed hands. Some will say that the timing was impeccable and I’d have to agree. But what really made this small business a success were the people that worked there and their dedication and hard work.

Tales like these are abundant in the land of small business and we’ll be sharing more as time goes on.